One month into the Tailstrike beta and we're overwhelmed by the community response. Seeing 30 flights on the network each day over the holiday break was unbelievable. For a tiny team that has poured their heart into this project, it’s so exciting that people are using it. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to Tailstrike history so far!

As we approach 500 flights and 1,000 hours logged, I want to reflect on what the community has accomplished already, and share thoughts on what a persistent shared world of aircraft means for the future of flight simulation.

Events

Nothing exemplifies the sim community’s response to Tailstrike quite like the 32 inaugural Tailstrike badges awarded to the adventurous pilots who participated in our first challenge events.

At the end of last year, 19 pioneering members of the Tailstrike community flew into New York City before midnight on New Year’s Eve to earn the NYC NYE ‘25 badge, the first badge ever awarded on the network.

And it took just 5 days and 23 flights for the community to collectively fly a Cessna 172 from New York to Los Angeles during the Cessna to SoCal challenge. It was a milestone event that truly demonstrates what’s possible with persistent aircraft in a shared world.

Each of those pilots now has a story in common, a memorable moment in the hobby that stands out from other flights. They are connected to the aircraft and to each other, and the Tailstrike flight log proves it, forever.

This is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the depth that Tailstrike will add to flight simulation. It changes how and why we fly by placing us inside an emergent world of shared experiences where actions have impact.

Emergence

Emergence:
(n) the development of particular patterns, properties, or behaviors in parts of complex systems that happen only when the parts of the system interact, and that the parts do not have on their own.

I have always been fascinated by “emergent” games and simulations where nothing is scripted or fake. In emergent simulations, the world evolves based on two things: the rules that govern that world, and how humans interact within those rules. Real life is emergent - many humans constantly interacting in a shared world. Emergent means unpredictable, exciting, meaningful. This is what makes something real, and it is the next frontier of simulation.

In one aspect, flight simulators have had an emergent shared world for decades - VATSIM and IVAO - where other humans and realism requirements force us to stay on our toes. And because we are connected to other pilots and ATC, our actions matter and have downstream effects.

Now it is no longer a simulation, it’s a reality.

Aviation in the real world is highly emergent. Every action has consequences, whether infinitely small or incomprehensibly large. But do your actions in the virtual cockpit really matter?

The Future

Right now, Tailstrike maintains each aircraft’s physical location in the virtual world. When flown from point A to point B, the aircraft remains at point B, and is there for everyone. In the future, we will track fuel and oil levels, and even payload in some cases.

But the most exciting persistent feature will be wear.

In real life, aircraft have emergencies maybe once in 10,000 hours. An INOP button or system malfunction is more common. But few simmers are flying a single plane long enough for the simulator to trigger built-in ‘organic’ failures. Some aircraft lack those features altogether. And let’s face it, manually triggering failures feels fake. Simulated. The emergencies are not emergent.

But Tailstrike’s shared aircraft will fly thousands of hours in their lifetime. Each individual aircraft will experience persistent wear over time, attributed to hundreds of sim pilots and their flying.

If it’s modelled in the simulator, it can be persisted across users, sims, and time, making each aircraft’s condition real and dynamic.

That brings me to Tailstrike’s simple mission:

Real aircraft in flight simulation.

They exist.
They persist.
They connect pilots.

This is no longer a concept or an experiment. It is already unfolding. Every flight adds weight to the world. Every decision leaves a trace.

If you are flying with us now, you are a foundational member of the project. You’re already creating a shared history with other pilots, and already leaving a permanent mark on these aircraft and their virtual world.

Flight simulation has always simulated aircraft.

Tailstrike gives them life.

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Check out the #cessna-to-socal channel in the Tailstrike Discord to see more from the event.